Basic bread recipe

Posted by Daniela Bonora on 7 February 2011

Basic bread recipe.

Basic bread

 

Ingredients:

  • 500g plain flour
  • 310ml tepid water
  • 1 sachet (7g) instant yeast
  • 1 Tbl sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Grease-proof paper

 

Cooking method

Add flour to a large mixing bowl. Create a well in the centre of the flour in to which you add half the water, the yeast, sugar and salt. Being careful not to break the walls of the well, lightly mix the water and yeast mixture with a fork. The next step is to start folding in the flour with your hands, adding the rest of the water little by little (you might not need all of the water). Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, gather into a ball and leave to rise in the bowl, which should be covered with plastic wrap, until double in size (45 minutes – 1 hour). You should place the bowl in a warm, dark place (around 30?C).

Once the dough has risen nicely, punch the air out with your fists and knead once more. At this stage you can add other ingredients such as cheese and onion, olives and sundried tomatoes or sweet corn. Then leave to rise for another 45 minutes – 1 hour, until double in size. It’s advisable to first place the dough on some grease-proof paper and arrange it into the shape you wish the loaf to be (round, rectangular) before leaving to rise.

Once the dough has risen, place it in a non-preheated oven (this is called cold-baking), turn the oven to 180?C and bake for 35-45 minutes or until crisp on the outside and it sounds hollow when tapped.

Enjoy warm out of the oven with a good spreading of butter.

 

Variations

Olive and sundried tomato bread:

Add about 115g black olives, roughly chopped,
About 50g sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped

 

Cheese and onion bread:

Add 1-2 onions, thinly sliced and lightly fried
About 100g grated cheese

 

Sweet-corn bread (mieliebrood):

For this bread, instead of using 500g flour, use 425g flour and 75g mieliemeel or polenta
About 100g sweet corn (don’t use creamed corn as it adds too much additional moisture)

 

Whole-wheat bread:

Instead of plain flour, use whole wheat flour and if you like add nuts, bran or oats.

 

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